What does success mean for the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation? It means advancing drug discovery for Alzheimer's disease, supporting the best and brightest scientists in the world, and ensuring that people have the information they need to lead to protect their brain health and prevent dementia.
By any of these measures, 2014 was our most transformative year yet. Here are just a few highlights from a year of success stories.
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We supported more science than ever before, awarding 38 grants worth a total of $9.6 million to researchers working to develop effective treatments for Alzheimer's disease. One such grant went to Axxam, an Italian biotechnology company that's developing drugs to reduce brain inflammation.
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And we made our biggest investment in Alzheimer's clinical trials, with more than $3.7 million in funding for trials of promising drugs. This included the phase 1 clinical trial of rasagiline, an FDA-approved treatment for Parkinson's disease and the only drug so far to demonstrate a disease-modifying effect in a neurodegenerative disease.
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We co-funded the first trial of a drug to treat vascular dementia, the second most common form of dementia.
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We introduced nearly 500 scientists to the principles of drug discovery and the latest developments in Alzheimer’s science at our three conferences.
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We empowered people to improve their brain health, with the launch of CognitiveVitality.org, a new website featuring comprehensive, science-based evaluations of dementia prevention strategies.
Thanks to your continued support, we are closer than ever before to the discovery and development of effective treatments for Alzheimer's disease.